GIOVANNI di SAN TOMMASO. — Dominican theologian, born in Lisbon to the noble Poinso family on 9 July 1589, died at Fraga (Aragon) on 15 June 1644. He studied literature at Coimbra (1605) and theology at Louvain (1606–1609). He entered religious life at Madrid on 18 July 1610 and wished to call himself a Sancto Thoma, in homage to the Angelic Doctor. He taught at Madrid and Plasencia (1620–25), then became regent at the Studium of S. Tommaso in Alcalá, where he formed a friendship with Pietro de Tapia; in 1630 he was entrusted with the evening chair at the University of Alcalá and in 1641 also with the principal chair. Two years later, King Philip IV summoned him to Madrid as confessor and counsellor.
From 1632 to 1636 he wrote the individual parts that make up the Cursus philosophicus Thomisticus (9 vols., Rome 1637–38). His Cursus theologicus, published first separately (in 7 vols. from 1637 to 1657), was also republished in its entirety (Lyons 1663). An eighth volume was subsequently added to it (De Sacramentis, Paris 1667). The entire Cursus was reissued at Cologne (1711), Paris (1883), and recently by the Benedictines of Solesmes (vols. I–IV, Paris 1931–46). Great success was likewise achieved by the catechism Explicacion de la doctrina christiana (Madrid 1640).
G. di S. T., highly esteemed for the holiness of his life, is, doctrinally, one of the greatest Thomists. The treatises he develops most extensively concern the nature of theology, human freedom, reflex knowledge, obediential potency, and the sanctification of the Blessed Virgin. His treatise on the gifts of the Holy Spirit is classical.